My Biography
David A. Kideckel (PhD, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1979) is an expert in cultural anthropology with a focus on political-economy. In particular, Dr. Kideckel worked on issues of labor and class, the nature of state power, effects of globalization and now deindustrialization. His most recent area of work has been on the energy transformation and its implications for coal mining communities. His main geographic areas of focus are Eastern Europe, especially Romania, south India (Kerala), and recently Appalachia. Main research themes and projects include: Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania; Post-1989 agricultural reform; Labor, health, and politics in Postsocialist Romania; Labor union movement in Postsocialist Romania; Foreign assistance to Eastern and Central Europe Citizenship Discourse, Shifting Economies, and Political Practice in Globalizing Postsocialist Romania and Postcolonial Kerala; Mining heritage and regional identities in Eastern Europe and Appalachia; and Transformation of Energy Practice and Coal communities in Eastern Europe and Appalachia. Dr. Kideckel’s first AAA annual meeting was in 1972 as a neophyte graduate student.